Delta [Epsilon #2]

Chapter Fourteen

My heart glimmered as I watched her run. I'd called her a coward, someone not made of warrior material. 

I was so wrong. 

My blood iced over again, however, as the brown wolf caught up and sent her rolling into the ground. The others quickly swarmed her. She managed to bite one before her head was knocked to the side. I ran faster, but I was still too far, still too slow. The wolf was climbing on top of her, snarling. Sixty yards. I had to make it. I just had to make it. 

Raina's golden coat shone beautifully, the red stain leaking from her shoulder like a crimson river winding through gold. Beautiful, so beautiful. So brave. So fragile yet courageous. So small yet strong. She was everything I'd thought her not to be, and in any moment, she would die. 

Forty yards. 

The boy above her raised his head, as though readying to strike. Raina closed her eyes, then, and I could read it in her face; the acceptance of her death. Part of it almost broke me. How dare I call her coward? How dare I question her courage?

Tears rose to my eyes. She had to live. She had to! 

Twenty yards. 

Time slowed. His canines glinted like a sword, going straight for her neck. The wind stopped blowing. The trees stopped swaying. The birds stopped singing. It was just me and ten more yards. Ten more damn yards. 

The roar that rumbled from my chest was one of utter desperation. It was enough. The boy hesitated, and that was all I needed. His eyes widened as I charged into him, sinking my teeth into his shoulder. His screams and whimpers was music to my ears as we rolled, and when we finally stilled, me pinning him as he'd just pinned Raina, I was ready to kill him. But then I remembered the other boys, still surrounding Raina. Still a threat. 

I turned to find their stricken faces. I ran for them, snarling, and they were quick to scatter. I managed to bite ones calf before I returned to the boy that had hurt Raina, his pathetic form crumpled before the treeline. His wide eyes tracked me, glossed with pain. I was about to finish the kill when Raina reached out, her fingertips brushing my arm. 

I froze, staring at her. Her pale eyes held mine, tired yet determined. She was back in her human form, her dress only slightly rippled from the transformation. 

"Don't... kill him..." she gasped between breaths. 

I stared at her, shocked. Why shouldn't I kill him? Hadn't he just tried to kill her?

"Please, Azure..." Raina pleaded, her eyelids fluttering. Her breathing slowed, and it was then that I noticed the severity of the wound on her shoulder. Blood pooled around her, sinking into the earth. I looked to the boy, who froze under my stare, and turned back to Raina. Sending him a look that promised this wasn't over, I reverted to human form and kneeled beside Raina, already feeling the ache of my transformation. I pushed it aside. 

I was thankful for the thick cloak covering my naked form. My eyes were immediately on Raina's gaping wound, on the marred flesh and bright red blood. I felt the energy in my own body as I held my hand before her wound, a green glow forming at my fingertips. In that moment, I was so glad to be a healer. 

Raina surprised me again by cracking open an eye, sliding it to my hand. She huffed a weak chuckle. "You're healing me? You ought to kill me for everything I've said to you."

"And me to you," I joked back, but I didn't feel the humour. After almost watching her die, and seeing how much blood she'd lost, I couldn't bring myself to laugh. Instead, tears came. 

Raina closed her eyes, and an impulse of panic flashed through me as I realised I didn't want her to slip away. Instinctively, I gripped her hand. "Hey, stay with me, alright?"

A smile tugged at those petite lips. "I'll try. That resistance really took it out of me."

I swallowed. "You fought well," I whispered. "Very well. And I..."

The words caught in the knot of my throat, and I focused again on healing the wound. The bleeding had stopped, and sinew was already beginning to knit itself back together. Raina, ever graceful, just nodded her head in thanks before falling back completely. Before long, her breaths had evened out, and I was glad she'd be spared this pain for a little while. 

By the time I was done, her skin was smooth as though it'd never been marred in the first place. My hand was still in hers, and when I took it away, part of me ached to put it back. I'd come so close to losing her today. Holding her, touching her, was the reminder I needed to know that she was still here. That she was okay. 

As I scooped up Raina and carried her to the palace, I tried to recall the boys' faces for later vengeance, but I couldn't remember a single detail. 

Because all I could remember was her, and how she'd fought like a warrior.